偶像励志英语演讲 第94期:如何解决这个世界最严重的不平等(4)

　　You graduates came to Harvard at a different time. You know more about the world's inequities than the classes that came before. In your years here, I hope you've had a chance to think about how-in this age of accelerating technology-we can finally take on these inequities, and we can solve them.
在座的各位同学，你们是在与我不同的时间来到哈佛的。你们比以前的学生更多地了解世界的不平等。在你们的哈佛求学过程中，我希望你们已经思考过一个问题——在这个技术加速发展的时代——我们最终怎样应对这些不平等，以及我们怎样来解决这些问题。
Imagine, just for the sake of discussion, that you had a few hours a week and a few dollars a month to donate to a cause-and you wanted to spend that time and money where it would have the greatest impact in saving and improving lives. Where would you spend it?
为了讨论的方便，请想象一下，假如你每个星期可以献出一些时间、每个月可以捐献一些钱——你希望这些时间和金钱，可以用到对拯救生命和改善人类生活有最大作用的地方。你会在哪儿花费它们？
For Melinda and for me, the challenge is the same: how can we do the most good for the greatest number with the resources we have.
这也是美琳达（注：盖茨的妻子）和我面临的问题：我们如何能使我们所拥有的资源发挥其最大的作用，为最多的人做有益的事情。
During our discussions on this question, Melinda and I read an article about the millions of children who were dying every year in poor countries from diseases that we had long ago made harmless in this country, measles¹, malaria², pneumonia³, hepatitis B, yellow fever. One disease I had never even heard of, rotavirus, was killing⁴ half a million kids each year-none of them in the United States.
在讨论这个问题的过程中， 美琳达和我读到了一篇文章，说在那些贫穷的国家，每年有数百万的儿童死于那些在美国早已不成问题的疾病：麻疹、疟疾、乙型肝炎、黄热病，还有一种以前我从未听说过的轮状病毒。这种疾病每年导致50万儿童死亡，但是在美国一例死亡病例也没有。
We were shocked. We had just assumed that if millions of children were dying and they could be saved, the world would make it a priority to discover and deliver the medicine to save them. But it did not. For under a dollar, there were interventions⁵ that could save lives that just weren't being delivered.
我们震惊了。心想，如果几百万儿童正在死亡线上挣扎，而且他们是可以被挽救的，那么世界理应把发现并派送药物拯救他们作为头等大事。但是事实并非如此。那些价格还不到一美元的救命的药剂，并没有被送到他们的手中。
重点讲解：
1. take on
承担，接受；
eg. He is always ready to take on heavy responsibilities.
他一向乐于挑重担。
eg. Don't take on more than you can cope with.
要量力而行。
2. for the sake of
由于；为了；因为…的缘故；
eg. We can't risk big things for the sake of small ones.
我们不能因小失大。
eg. She called on us merely for the sake of courtesy.
她来访只是为了礼貌。
3. hear of
听说；
eg. Your mother will be furious if she gets to hear of this.
你母亲若知此事定会怒不可遏。
eg. They were shocked to hear of the bad news.
听说这则坏消息他们很震惊。

1 measles   

n.麻疹，风疹，包虫病，痧子

参考例句：

• The doctor is quite definite about Tom having measles.医生十分肯定汤姆得了麻疹。
• The doctor told her to watch out for symptoms of measles.医生叫她注意麻疹出现的症状。

2 malaria   

n.疟疾

参考例句：

• He had frequent attacks of malaria.他常患疟疾。
• Malaria is a kind of serious malady.疟疾是一种严重的疾病。

3 pneumonia   

n.肺炎

参考例句：

• Cage was struck with pneumonia in her youth.凯奇年轻时得过肺炎。
• Pneumonia carried him off last week.肺炎上星期夺去了他的生命。

4 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

5 interventions   

n.介入，干涉，干预( intervention的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Economic analysis of government interventions deserves detailed discussion. 政府对经济的干预应该给予充分的论述。 来自辞典例句
• The judge's frequent interventions made a mockery of justice. 法官的屡屡干预是对正义的践踏。 来自互联网